Douglas Elliman to split from parent firm and go public on NYSE

Another real estate giant is spinning off to become a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Douglas Elliman Real Estate, one of the largest residential brokerages in the New York Area, said it is splitting from its parent company Vector Group. The company has expanded across the U.S., with offices in markets such as California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas.

Douglas Elliman Realty LLC Chief Executive Scott Durkin said that by going it alone as an independent firm, the company will be able to expand its market footprint and make strategic investments in early-stage proptech startups that will help to keep it and its agents “on the cutting edge of the industry.”

The company has applied to list on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “DOUG”. Once the spin off is completed, Vector Group, which also owns the tobacco firm Ligget Group and real estate investment company New Valley LLC, among others, will continue trading under the symbol “VGR”.

“The filing of the Form 10 registration statement is an important milestone in our plan to create two independent publicly traded companies,” said Howard M. Lorber, president and CEO of Vector Group and chairman, president, and CEO of Douglas Elliman Inc. “With a leading luxury brand and a comprehensive suite of technology-enabled services and investments, Douglas Elliman is well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the large and growing U.S. residential real estate market. Following the spin-off, Vector Group’s separate tobacco and real estate businesses will be better positioned to execute their strategic plans to drive each company’s long-term success and unlock value for stockholders.”

Durkin will retain his role as CEO at Douglas Elliman once the spinoff completes, which is expected to happen at the end of the year, pending approval from the Federal Trade Commission.

Numerous real estate firms have taken advantage of the U.S. real estate boom by going public, often turning to so-called special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which are public entities formed to merge with private firms and take them public. Over the past year, such real estate firms and services like Cushman & Wakefield, RXR Realty, Simon Property Group, Tishman Speyer, Opendoor, Matterport, among others have used SPACs to go public.